The Joe Rogan Experience

Helter Skelter then says in the book that the police took the tape, viewed it, and it was just Sharon and Roman making love.

Helter Skelter is the bestselling true crime book of all time and it's wonderfully written.

A book that was written in 1962 and later became a movie and then a movie again.

My books going to paperback next month Louise is yeah it's very cool

The reason why I've written this book, Hacking Darwin, is that if we approach genetically modified humans in the same way, we approach genetically modified foods, which is the scientists say, hey, we've got this. We're going to manage them responsibly. And it just kind of happens to people. People are going to go nuts.

That's why I've written this book. That's why I'm out speaking every day about this topic because we need to recognize that if we have, if we approach these revolutionary technologies using the same values that we experience today where we're here and very comfortable. But just down the road, there are people who are just who are living without many opportunities.

The 21st story of the 21st century, one of the biggest stories of the 21st century will be how the US China rivalry plays out and the playing field will be with these revolutionary technologies.

When last year the book Hacking Dom was already in production in November when it was announced that these first genetically engineered babies had been born in China.

And so I called the publisher and said we need to pull this back out of productions. I need to reference this but it didn't require much of a change because I'd already written this is happening. We're going to see the world's first genetic humans. It's going to happen first in China and here's why.

In genetic technologies, when last year the book Hacking Dom was already in production in November when it was announced that these first genetically engineered babies had been born in China.

So I said it had to add a few sentences saying and it just happened in October of 2018.

So China is on that path and we need to recognize that on one hand the United States needs to be competitive. On the other hand, we don't want a runaway arms race of the human race and that's why we need to find this balance between national ambition and some kind of global rules that's really hard to do.

My my my one of my sci-fi novels Genesis code was about this so China as you know has their system of their Olympic sports schools and the way it works is they test kids all around the country so let's just say it's it's diving and they identify what are the core skills of a diver what do you need and then they go around the country they test kids and then they bring a bunch of them to the Olympic sports schools and then they you know they get them all involved and then some kids are the best of those kids and the best of those kids and then you get with these champs that's why China advanced so so rapidly but what happens if they're doing that but it's at the genetic level.

If you're China and you kind of have this Plato's Republic model of the world and we're going to kind of identify the genetic or maybe manipulate these genetic superstars to be our greatest scientists and mathematicians and business leaders and political leaders like there's a model that you can imagine for for how to do it.

I was on book tours for those and I explained the science to people the way I kind of a self-educated citizen scientist and a novelist would explain the science all of a sudden people got it and that was when I realized I needed to write the book about the genetics revolution that people could absorb that wouldn't scare people but my mission for the book is that this stuff as we've talked about it's so important that everybody needs to be part of the conversation we have this brief window and what I'm calling for is this species-wide dialogue on the future of human genetic genetic engineering.

I think that we're just going to have these contact lenses and I'm and it'll be different kinds of information based on what people want me like all meet with you and it'll say alright this is Joe here's a little bit of background whatever and we'll have useful information or you're walking around a city and you'll be get little alerts of things you might do or history and so I think that that's what they were thinking about with Google glasses.

There was that book, The Courage to Heal, where it said, if you think you might have been abused, you probably were. It was a reckless thing to say and helped bring down the satanicpanic hysteria.

We did this movie called The Dirt and it's based on our autobiography.

Charloane God's his new book Shook One is all about his mental health anxiety his issues with anxiety and um

rest in peace David Graeber.

I wrote a great book called Bullshit Jobs.

Brilliant mind, man.

Brilliant mind.

But he basically talks about how like, so ideas, I'm gonna go to college.

So I came on because I had just written a book called Permanent Record which is the story of my life because that's what publishers make you do when you're writing your first book. But it's more than that because I didn't just want to talk about me. It's actually about the changing of technology and the changing of government in this sort of post911 era.

And I was at the CIA and the NSA and all this stuff, but the day that the book came out, the government hit me with a lawsuit. And they hit the publisher of the books with a lawsuit because they don't want to see books like this get written. They especially don't want to see books like this get read.

Sure yes it is it's on shelves everywhere at least until the government finds some other way to ban it. It is called a Permanent Record.

She says if you're doing anything in your life that is not sparking joy then fuck it. A lady that tells you to throw out your clothes that don't spark joy.

Interview with the Vampire is one of the best horror books I've ever read.

It's amazing.

The vampire Lestat is great.

I don't think I read other ones.

I think that's the only one.

do you remember a course in miracles a course in miracles was a book that was going around I want to say in the early early 90s there was a bunch of people that were telling you to read some book by this couple and they were channeling an angel really wrote this book and yeah it's one of those books where I like I don't know if it was any good because everybody that recommended it was so annoying really pretty love or was that the other one the secret was extremely spiritual air quotes okay and it was all about how to live and it might have been it might be an amazing book but I remember everybody that wanted to recommend it I always had like a right that might yeah and I was a young man at the time and I was very dismissive of about a lot of things that wouldn't be dismissive of today but the I remember it was like one of those books where annoying people loved it yeah you've got to read this book right that can be yeah it's like this book transformed me it's a gift I'm giving you this book because I want you to read it and it's going to transform you too wow yeah this is not my love to you maybe I'm reading a book about someone who said they were channeling an angel and that's nonsense about that how about how about I have to think about the fact that's a nonsense person

in one of his next books The Fall the characters trying to find meaning or better put trying to find someone to take the place of God that can forgive them of their sins again is I think this is a huge problem for agnostics and atheists when we do something that's bad we don't have this omnipotent all forgiving father figure to take that away from us like we have to live with it

I went to read William James' book, A Variety's of Religious Experience. It is the most heartfelt and rational approach to religion that has ever been written.

did you see the the film about Michael Bent just came out on Netflix as part of that loser series no I did not that's that's worth watching he um he never liked boxing never he wanted to box but I've got a really successful career in Hollywood producing plays and movies really yeah yeah yeah yeah it's a great Michael Bent produces plays and movies yeah he won't play I think and he teaches actors how to how to box as well like you know when they're doing movies it's a great little talk good for him

if you read Fear and Loathing on the campaign trail

Tom Segura is a stand-up comic, actor, podcaster, and author. He co-hosts two podcasts, "Your Mom's House," with his wife, comic Christina Pazsitsky, and "Two Bears, One Cave," and is the author of "I'd Like to Play Alone, Please: Essays."